culturedmeat
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A cultured chicken nugget could hit the market by the end of the year
You may know Just (formerly Hampton Creek) for its vegan cookie dough and mayo, but the company has also been working on cultured meat -- real meat that's made from animal cells rather than taken from an animal itself. While it's not the only company doing so -- there are actually quite a few -- it could be the first to get a product on the market. Just CEO Josh Tetrick told Engadget earlier this year that his company would have either a chicken nugget, foie gras or sausage available by the end of 2018, and now it looks like Just is gearing up to release a chicken nugget. A cultured chicken nugget, that is.
FDA and USDA will meet to debate the future of lab-grown meat
It's inevitable that lab-grown meat will play some kind of role in the future of food supply, but at this stage, it's unclear how much of a role, or what its regulatory frameworks will look like. This is why the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and US Department of Agriculture (USDA) are hosting a joint public meeting on the issue, to address public concerns about cell-cultured meat products and to examine how they will fit into existing food systems.
Lab-grown meat is inevitable. Will we eat it?
In 2013, two people tasted a burger made from cultured meat live on the air, and for many, it was their first introduction to lab-grown meat and the researchers creating it. The two were tasked with trying this first cultured burger and giving their honest thoughts on how it tasted, how it felt and how it compared to a typical burger. One noted "some intense taste" while the second said, "The texture, the mouthfeel has a feel like meat." Both pointed out that the lack of fat in the burger made it a little dry, but overall the consensus was that it was very close to traditional meat. Now, less than five years later, no fewer than seven companies are developing cultured meat to bring it to the market, some aiming to sell products as early as this year. For some, cultured meat is a tech triumph, for others it's a cool new food and for many, it offers a way to help address some pretty major food and environmental challenges or maybe even save the world. But it's also a fundamental break from how we've always interacted with meat. Eating meat has always meant the death of an animal in some way or another, but with cultured meat, that's no longer the case. And while that's pretty awe-inspiring, it's also, let's face it, really weird. Whether cultured meat becomes a commercial reality this year or a decade down the road, it's likely on its way, so it seems wise to figure out what people think of it, how to get people to trust it and ultimately, how to sell it.
